strict warning: Declaration of context_condition_path::execute() should be compatible with context_condition::execute($value) in /mnt/stor2-wc1-dfw1/408302/www.socialenterpriselive.com/web/content/sites/all/modules/context/plugins/context_condition_path.inc on line 0.

strict warning: Declaration of rules_data_type_string::get_default_input_form() should be compatible with rules_data_type::get_default_input_form($variable_info, $value, &$form_state) in /mnt/stor2-wc1-dfw1/408302/www.socialenterpriselive.com/web/content/sites/all/modules/rules/rules/modules/rules.rules.inc on line 0.

strict warning: Non-static method view::load() should not be called statically in /mnt/stor2-wc1-dfw1/408302/www.socialenterpriselive.com/web/content/sites/all/modules/views/views.module on line 879.

strict warning: Declaration of views_handler_argument::init() should be compatible with views_handler::init(&$view, $options) in /mnt/stor2-wc1-dfw1/408302/www.socialenterpriselive.com/web/content/sites/all/modules/views/handlers/views_handler_argument.inc on line 0.

strict warning: Declaration of views_handler_filter::options_validate() should be compatible with views_handler::options_validate($form, &$form_state) in /mnt/stor2-wc1-dfw1/408302/www.socialenterpriselive.com/web/content/sites/all/modules/views/handlers/views_handler_filter.inc on line 0.

strict warning: Declaration of views_handler_filter::options_submit() should be compatible with views_handler::options_submit($form, &$form_state) in /mnt/stor2-wc1-dfw1/408302/www.socialenterpriselive.com/web/content/sites/all/modules/views/handlers/views_handler_filter.inc on line 0.

strict warning: Declaration of views_handler_filter_boolean_operator::value_validate() should be compatible with views_handler_filter::value_validate($form, &$form_state) in /mnt/stor2-wc1-dfw1/408302/www.socialenterpriselive.com/web/content/sites/all/modules/views/handlers/views_handler_filter_boolean_operator.inc on line 0.

strict warning: Declaration of views_plugin_style_default::options() should be compatible with views_object::options() in /mnt/stor2-wc1-dfw1/408302/www.socialenterpriselive.com/web/content/sites/all/modules/views/plugins/views_plugin_style_default.inc on line 0.

strict warning: Declaration of views_plugin_row::options_validate() should be compatible with views_plugin::options_validate(&$form, &$form_state) in /mnt/stor2-wc1-dfw1/408302/www.socialenterpriselive.com/web/content/sites/all/modules/views/plugins/views_plugin_row.inc on line 0.

strict warning: Declaration of views_plugin_row::options_submit() should be compatible with views_plugin::options_submit(&$form, &$form_state) in /mnt/stor2-wc1-dfw1/408302/www.socialenterpriselive.com/web/content/sites/all/modules/views/plugins/views_plugin_row.inc on line 0.

user warning: UPDATE command denied to user '408302_semagad'@'10.40.200.58' for table 'cache_filter'
query: UPDATE cache_filter SET data = '<p><em>“Resource dependence theory assumes that people shape their organizations to attract resources; the more heavily dependent on government they become, the more likely it is that they will eventually look and act like government.”</em></p>\n<p>So says Stephen Goldsmith in his book, <em>The Power of Social Innovation</em>. Goldsmith, a former Republican mayor of Indianapolis, who was appointed chair of the US <a title=\"Corporation for National and Community Service\" href=\"http://www.nationalservice.gov/\">Corporation for National and Community Service</a> during the presidency of George W Bush.</p>\n<p>He goes on to describe this risk – that community organisations, in taking on government contracts, assume many of the practices of the in-house public providers they’ve replaced – as the ‘fatal embrace’.</p>\n<p>In <a title=\"Guardian myth-buster\" href=\"https://socialenterprise.guardian.co.uk/en/articles/social-enterprise-network/2012/jun/21/myth-busting-social-enterprises-innovative\">my recent myth-buster column for <em>The Guardian</em>‘s Social Enterprise Network</a>, I disputed the myth that social enterprises are inherently innovative. Underlying this myth is that fatal embrace. Public sector bodies look at those social enterprises who are finding new and better ways of delivering positive social change and think, quite rightly, ‘we want some of that for the people who depend on the services we fund.’</p>\n<p>The problem is that often the reason why innovative social enterprises (and charities) are operating innovatively – either out of active choice or economic necessity – is that they’re not delivering services according to the prescriptions of public sector agencies.</p>\n<p>As I mentioned in my Guardian article, <em><a title=\"\" href=\"http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14719030701763187\">The Once and Future Pioneers</a></em>, a longitudinal study into the innovative capacity of voluntary sector organisations, led by Stephen Osborne of University of Edinburgh, reported that the % of surveyed organisation engaging in innovative activity dropped from 37.9% in 1994 to just 19.1% in 2006.</p>\n<p>As the study points out, the voluntary sector (including social enterprise) doesn’t exist solely to deliver services in new and different ways – in many situations, it may be equally useful for organisations to deliver specialist services on an ongoing basis while making incremental improvements to the way they’re delivered – but these figures do demonstrate the significant impact of government policies on the way that voluntary sector organisations operate. As government shifted from funding innovation in the voluntary sector to funding target-driven efficient service delivery, the voluntary sector shifted from away innovative activity towards delivering target-driven public sector-style services.</p>\n<p>Stephen Goldsmith illustrates the big dilemma facing community organisations when they ‘<em>face serious challenges in feeding and housing people in crisis, and more resources mean that they can reach more of their hurting neighbours</em>‘.</p>\n<p>He concludes that: “<em>Understanding when those resources undermine results and innovation will remain difficult, so nonprofit boards and their executives must vigilantly balance tradeoffs and opportunities</em>.”</p>\n<p>You need more money to do more good stuff but what if you can only get more money by spending it on doing other stuff that gets in the way of doing good stuff.</p>\n<p>Number 14 in the pop-up social enterprise thinktank, popse!’s <a title=\"100 social enterprise truths\" href=\"http://popse.wordpress.com/2011/05/13/the-100-social-enterprise-truths/\" target=\"_blank\">list of 100 social enterprise truths</a> is: “All money comes with strings attached; that’s fine as long as you know what they are”. That’s probably true but when it comes to the public sector supporting (or allowing) innovative approaches to services delivery, it may be that people giving out funds may not even know what strings they’re attaching – and the consequences of attaching them.</p>\n<p>As we move deeper into an era of ‘more for less’, will it be possible for government to risk funding organisations and ideas that might actually deliver that?</p>\n<p> <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/beanbagsandbullsh1t.wordpress.com/2018/\"><img alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/comments/beanbagsandbullsh1t.wordpress.com/2018/\" /></a> <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godelicious/beanbagsandbullsh1t.wordpress.com/2018/\"><img alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/delicious/beanbagsandbullsh1t.wordpress.com/2018/\" /></a> <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gofacebook/beanbagsandbullsh1t.wordpress.com/2018/\"><img alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/facebook/beanbagsandbullsh1t.wordpress.com/2018/\" /></a> <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gotwitter/beanbagsandbullsh1t.wordpress.com/2018/\"><img alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/twitter/beanbagsandbullsh1t.wordpress.com/2018/\" /></a> <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gostumble/beanbagsandbullsh1t.wordpress.com/2018/\"><img alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/stumble/beanbagsandbullsh1t.wordpress.com/2018/\" /></a> <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godigg/beanbagsandbullsh1t.wordpress.com/2018/\"><img alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/digg/beanbagsandbullsh1t.wordpress.com/2018/\" /></a> <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/goreddit/beanbagsandbullsh1t.wordpress.com/2018/\"><img alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/reddit/beanbagsandbullsh1t.wordpress.com/2018/\" /></a> <img alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=beanbagsandbullsh1t.com&amp;blog=8229334&amp;post=2018&amp;subd=beanbagsandbullsh1t&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" /></p>\n', created = 1503031906, expire = 1503118306, headers = '', serialized = 0 WHERE cid = '1:386954952ab054a18f6ea6b8d6e2835d' in /mnt/stor2-wc1-dfw1/408302/www.socialenterpriselive.com/web/content/includes/cache.inc on line 109.

strict warning: Declaration of context_condition_node::execute() should be compatible with context_condition::execute($value) in /mnt/stor2-wc1-dfw1/408302/www.socialenterpriselive.com/web/content/sites/all/modules/context/plugins/context_condition_node.inc on line 0.

strict warning: Declaration of context_condition_menu::execute() should be compatible with context_condition::execute($value) in /mnt/stor2-wc1-dfw1/408302/www.socialenterpriselive.com/web/content/sites/all/modules/context/plugins/context_condition_menu.inc on line 0.

strict warning: Declaration of context_reaction_debug::options_form() should be compatible with context_reaction::options_form($context) in /mnt/stor2-wc1-dfw1/408302/www.socialenterpriselive.com/web/content/sites/all/modules/context/plugins/context_reaction_debug.inc on line 0.

strict warning: Declaration of context_reaction_block::execute() should be compatible with context_reaction::execute() in /mnt/stor2-wc1-dfw1/408302/www.socialenterpriselive.com/web/content/sites/all/modules/context/plugins/context_reaction_block.inc on line 0.

strict warning: Non-static method view::load() should not be called statically in /mnt/stor2-wc1-dfw1/408302/www.socialenterpriselive.com/web/content/sites/all/modules/views/views.module on line 879.

strict warning: Declaration of views_handler_filter_term_node_tid::value_validate() should be compatible with views_handler_filter::value_validate($form, &$form_state) in /mnt/stor2-wc1-dfw1/408302/www.socialenterpriselive.com/web/content/sites/all/modules/views/modules/taxonomy/views_handler_filter_term_node_tid.inc on line 0.

strict warning: Non-static method view::load() should not be called statically in /mnt/stor2-wc1-dfw1/408302/www.socialenterpriselive.com/web/content/sites/all/modules/views/views.module on line 879.

strict warning: Non-static method view::load() should not be called statically in /mnt/stor2-wc1-dfw1/408302/www.socialenterpriselive.com/web/content/sites/all/modules/views/views.module on line 879.

strict warning: Non-static method view::load() should not be called statically in /mnt/stor2-wc1-dfw1/408302/www.socialenterpriselive.com/web/content/sites/all/modules/views/views.module on line 879.

strict warning: Non-static method view::load() should not be called statically in /mnt/stor2-wc1-dfw1/408302/www.socialenterpriselive.com/web/content/sites/all/modules/views/views.module on line 879.

strict warning: Non-static method view::load() should not be called statically in /mnt/stor2-wc1-dfw1/408302/www.socialenterpriselive.com/web/content/sites/all/modules/views/views.module on line 879.

strict warning: Declaration of date_handler_field_multiple::options() should be compatible with views_object::options() in /mnt/stor2-wc1-dfw1/408302/www.socialenterpriselive.com/web/content/sites/all/modules/date/date/date_handler_field_multiple.inc on line 0.

strict warning: Declaration of views_handler_filter_node_status::operator_form() should be compatible with views_handler_filter::operator_form(&$form, &$form_state) in /mnt/stor2-wc1-dfw1/408302/www.socialenterpriselive.com/web/content/sites/all/modules/views/modules/node/views_handler_filter_node_status.inc on line 0.

strict warning: Non-static method view::load() should not be called statically in /mnt/stor2-wc1-dfw1/408302/www.socialenterpriselive.com/web/content/sites/all/modules/views/views.module on line 879.

strict warning: Non-static method view::load() should not be called statically in /mnt/stor2-wc1-dfw1/408302/www.socialenterpriselive.com/web/content/sites/all/modules/views/views.module on line 879.

strict warning: Non-static method view::load() should not be called statically in /mnt/stor2-wc1-dfw1/408302/www.socialenterpriselive.com/web/content/sites/all/modules/views/views.module on line 879.

strict warning: Non-static method view::load() should not be called statically in /mnt/stor2-wc1-dfw1/408302/www.socialenterpriselive.com/web/content/sites/all/modules/views/views.module on line 879.

“Resource dependence theory assumes that people shape their organizations to attract resources; the more heavily dependent on government they become, the more likely it is that they will eventually look and act like government.”

So says Stephen Goldsmith in his book, The Power of Social Innovation. Goldsmith, a former Republican mayor of Indianapolis, who was appointed chair of the US Corporation for National and Community Service during the presidency of George W Bush.

He goes on to describe this risk – that community organisations, in taking on government contracts, assume many of the practices of the in-house public providers they’ve replaced – as the ‘fatal embrace’.

In my recent myth-buster column for The Guardian‘s Social Enterprise Network, I disputed the myth that social enterprises are inherently innovative. Underlying this myth is that fatal embrace. Public sector bodies look at those social enterprises who are finding new and better ways of delivering positive social change and think, quite rightly, ‘we want some of that for the people who depend on the services we fund.’

The problem is that often the reason why innovative social enterprises (and charities) are operating innovatively – either out of active choice or economic necessity – is that they’re not delivering services according to the prescriptions of public sector agencies.

As I mentioned in my Guardian article, The Once and Future Pioneers, a longitudinal study into the innovative capacity of voluntary sector organisations, led by Stephen Osborne of University of Edinburgh, reported that the % of surveyed organisation engaging in innovative activity dropped from 37.9% in 1994 to just 19.1% in 2006.

As the study points out, the voluntary sector (including social enterprise) doesn’t exist solely to deliver services in new and different ways – in many situations, it may be equally useful for organisations to deliver specialist services on an ongoing basis while making incremental improvements to the way they’re delivered – but these figures do demonstrate the significant impact of government policies on the way that voluntary sector organisations operate. As government shifted from funding innovation in the voluntary sector to funding target-driven efficient service delivery, the voluntary sector shifted from away innovative activity towards delivering target-driven public sector-style services.

Stephen Goldsmith illustrates the big dilemma facing community organisations when they ‘face serious challenges in feeding and housing people in crisis, and more resources mean that they can reach more of their hurting neighbours‘.

He concludes that: “Understanding when those resources undermine results and innovation will remain difficult, so nonprofit boards and their executives must vigilantly balance tradeoffs and opportunities.”

You need more money to do more good stuff but what if you can only get more money by spending it on doing other stuff that gets in the way of doing good stuff.

Number 14 in the pop-up social enterprise thinktank, popse!’s list of 100 social enterprise truths is: “All money comes with strings attached; that’s fine as long as you know what they are”. That’s probably true but when it comes to the public sector supporting (or allowing) innovative approaches to services delivery, it may be that people giving out funds may not even know what strings they’re attaching – and the consequences of attaching them.

As we move deeper into an era of ‘more for less’, will it be possible for government to risk funding organisations and ideas that might actually deliver that?

The Good Deals Pioneers Fund is offering a significant cash investment and an estimated £50,000 business support via the Young Foundation's Accelerator programme. The closing date for applications is Friday 26 October – get involved now to kick-start your start venture.

Featured Service Provider

Social Enterprise London is a world-leading provider of training, research, networking and consultancy for social enterprise - good business for a better world. SEL represents the largest social enterprise network in the UK with over 2,500 members, linking and inspiring social enterprises in London and beyond.